Handbook For Liturgical Studies, Volume V

Anscar J. Chupungco, OSB

Published by Liturgical Press

Anscar J. Chupungco, OSB.

Handbook For Liturgical Studies, Volume V: Liturgical Time and Space.
Liturgical Press, 2000.
Project MUSE.muse.jhu.edu/book/46789.

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 Elena Velkova Velkovska

The Liturgical Year in the East

In the ancient Byzantine tradition, as in the Roman one, the temporal

organization of a specific liturgical year was assigned to a twofold cal-
endar usually placed at the beginning or end of the biblical lectionaries,
the Praxapostolos (pericopes from the Acts of the Apostles, the letters of
Paul, and later the Catholic Epistles), and the Gospel. Rather than ac-
tual calendars, they are two series of tables with the simple list of the
incipit and desinit of the readings for Sundays, feasts, and memorials,
that is, of only the liturgical (Eucharistic) days. The table relative to the
movable cycle (Easter to Holy Saturday) takes the name of kanwnavrion
or sunaxavrion, and that relative to the fixed cycle (September 1 to
­August 31) can be called mhnolovgion or also sunaxavrion. In order to
distinguish this last table from the liturgical books of the same name,
it has been suggested that they be indicated as menologies and
“minor” synaxaria.1 From the knowledge we have, the oldest copies of
such tables do not go back beyond the ninth century.2
As the “New Rome,” the Church of Byzantium is the only one that
follows the Roman calendar of 12 months and 365 days, although the
civic New Year, unlike that of Rome and Jerusalem, falls on September 1,
the Day of the Indiction, instead of January 1. From here originates the
widespread but unfounded opinion that September 1 marks the be-
ginning of the Byzantine liturgical year, which is assigned, rather, to
  1 
J. Noret, “Ménologes, Synaxaires, Ménées: Essai de clarification d’une termi-
nologie,” AB 86 (1968) 21–24.
  2 
This is probably the date assigned to the tables of the Vaticano gr. 2144 (see
­Mhnolovgion . . . sive Kalendarium Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae .  .  ., ed. S. A.
­Morcelli [Rome, 1788]) and of the Mosca S. Sinodo gr. 85 (Sergij, Polnoj mesjaceslov
[Vladimir, 1901] 409–412).

157
Easter. In accord with Genesis 1:5b, the liturgical day is computed
from sunset to sunset.

1. In the Cathedral of Constantinople in the Ninth/Tenth Century

The liturgy of Constantinople, like that of Rome and Jerusalem, is
­essentially a stational liturgy, linked, that is, not only to the cathedral
but to a network of churches, monasteries, and urban shrines con-
nected processionally to each other, and of which, in the span of the
year, the dedication or particular feasts and memorials are celebrated.
This stational aspect has profoundly marked the make-up of the lit-
urgy of the local Church of Constantinople, the history of its Eucha-
rist, its Liturgy of the Hours, and, above all, its liturgical year.3
Given that for now specific studies on the genesis and formation of
the liturgical year in Constantinople are not available, we will need to
be satisfied with taking a summary view of it as it appears in two wit-
nesses in the book commonly called the tupikovn of the Great Church,
the codices Patmos 266 and Jerusalem Hagios Stauros 40. It is a matter in
both cases of a synaxarion or of a compendium with eulogy of the
saints arranged according to the order of the calendar. The model of
the codex of Patmos would rise again to prominence between the end
of the ninth and the beginning of the tenth century, while the codex of
Jerusalem is privileged testimony of the edition of the sunaxavrion
­patronized by Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus and appeared at the
end of the sixties of the tenth century.4 In addition to the hagiographic
material for every day, the two witnesses of the synaxarion have pre-
served for us the relative rubric directives also for pre-Lent to the
­Sunday after Pentecost, and they carry, therefore, an exceptional im-
portance for the study of every aspect of the Byzantine tradition of the
cathedral in the tenth century.5

a) Pre-Lenten time
Between the series of Sundays after Pentecost and the beginning of
Lent, the cathedral tupikovn envisages a connection of two weeks with
three Sundays (Sunday of the Prodigal Son, Meatfare, and Cheesefare).
  3 
J. F. Baldovin, The Urban Character of Christian Worship: The Origins, Development,
and Meaning of Stational Liturgy, OCA 228 (Rome, 1987) 167–226.
  4 
For the dating see A. Luzzi, “Il semestre estivo della recensione H* del Sinas­
sario di Costantinopoli,” in Studi sul Sinassario di Costantinopoli, 5–7 and notes 1–3.
  5 
A.Dmitr, 1:1–152, and J. Mateos, Le Typicon de la Grande Église. Ms. Sainte-Croix
No. 40, 2 vols., OCA 165–166 (Rome, 1962–1963).

158
By convention one can call it pre-Lenten time. The readings for the
Saturday-Sunday Eucharistic Liturgy, in fact, introduce themes proper
to the Lenten journey, such as the Christian meaning of food, exam-
ples of conversion (e.g., the prodigal son), and several times the escha-
tological discourse on Jerusalem (according to Matthew and Luke).6
With the following Monday begins the week of lighter fasting,
Cheesefare (tou§ turofavgou),7 so called because consuming dairy prod-
ucts is still permitted. It seems that this distinct period of fast was in-
troduced at the time of the Emperor Heraclius (610–641).8 Wednesday
and Friday are a true anticipation of the typical Lenten day. Let us
note, however, that the Saturday-Sunday readings continue the
­customary pre-Lenten catechesis based on the Christian meaning of
food, true prayer, and true fasting, probably because they were prior
to the reform of Heraclius.9 On the Saturday of Cheesefare, attention is
drawn besides to a memorial “of the ascetics, of the bishops, and of
the martyrs.” On the Sunday following, in the stational Church of the
Holy Apostles, the memorial “of Archbishop Flavian of Constantinople
and Leo of Rome and of the emperor Marcianus and Pulcheria”10 was
celebrated.

b) Lent
The Byzantine legislation on Lent is summed up principally in canon
52 of the Council in Trullo (691/692), which prohibits the celebration
of the Eucharistic Liturgy in Lent, except for Saturdays, Sundays, and
the feast of the Annunciation. At the same time it reaffirms the daily
celebration (Monday–Friday) of the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts
(tw§n prohgiasmevnwn Dwvrwn) or, rather, the reserved Sacrament conse-
crated in the Eucharistic Liturgy of the preceding Sunday.11 The “Great
  6 
Mateos, Typicon, 2:2–3.
  7 
Mateos, Typicon, 2:4–11.
  8 
A. Rahlfs, “Die alttestamentlichen Lektionen der griechischen Kirche,”
­Mitteilungen des Septuaginta-Unternehmens der K. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu
Göttingen (Berlin, 1909–1915) 1:202–205; cf. J. Herburt, De ieiunio et abstinentia in
­ecclesia byzantina ab initiis usque ad saec. XI, Corona Lateranensis 12 (Rome, 1968)
57–58; T. J. Talley, The Liturgical Year (Collegeville, Minn.) 181.
  9 
Mateos, Typicon, 2: 5-11; the readings are Romans 14:19-23; 16:25-27; 13:11b–
14:4; Matthew 6:1-13 and 14-21.
10 
Mateos, Typicon, 2:8–9.
11 
P.-P. Joannou, Discipline generale antique. Vol. 1, Part 1: Les canons des conciles
­oecuméniques (IIe–IXe s.), Pontifical Commission for the Redaction of the Code of
Eastern Canon Law (Grottaferrata, 1962) 230.

159
Church” was thus desirous to ensure daily communion in Lent as an
integral part of the ascetic path together with fasting, prayers, and
good works. If, then, one keeps in mind that at Hagia Sophia even in
the Pentecostal period the Eucharistic celebration was not daily in the
time under consideration, Lent appears rather as a strongly Eucha-
ristic period.
The typical Lenten day (Monday–Friday) involved three daily
synaxes: Matins; a hora media, Terce-Sext, celebrated between Terce and
Sext (Tritoevkth) with a semi-continuous reading of Isaiah; and Vespers
with a semi-continuous reading of Genesis and Proverbs joined to the
Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts and lengthened in a partial vigil
(pannuciv~). On Saturdays and Sundays (considered as the final day of
the week) the customary complete Eucharistic Liturgy was celebrated.
The few scheduled hymnody texts insist in general on the value of
fasting and penance. The two readings for the Eucharistic Liturgy use
the Letter to the Hebrews and preferably the Gospel of Mark.
On the first Saturday of Lent the feast of St. Theodore was cele-
brated in the church of the same name in the district of Sphoràkios but
not in the cathedral, which followed the feast-day cycle. In both places
Mark 2:2–3:5, on the freedom to eat and to work even on the Sabbath,
was read. It is to be noted that in the Byzantine tradition the Saturdays
of Lent are considered holy days.12 In the cathedral the first Sunday is
dedicated to the memory of the prophets Moses, Aaron, and Samuel,
the second commemorates St. Polycarp of Smyrna, while the third
does not hold a specific commemoration.13 On the other hand, that
which characterizes the second and third Sunday is the invitation—an
invitation merely formal at this period— addressed to parents so that
they may conduct their children to the pre-baptismal catechesis that
began the following Monday. The Typikon also informs us that from
Tuesday to Friday a veneration of the cross took place, without fur-
nishing further precise information.14 Beginning with the fourth Sun-
day we note that the varying commemorations linked to determined
shrines do not involve proper hymnody elements, while the readings
are concentrated on the preparation of the catechumens for baptism.15
12 
Mateos, Typicon, 2:19–21.
13 
Mateos, Typicon, 2:21–23, 30–31, 38–39.
14 
Mateos, Typicon, 2:40–45.
15 
Mark 9:17-31 for the fourth Sunday and Mark 10:32-45 for the fifth Sunday
(Mateos, Typicon, 2:46–47, 56–57).

160
One such item of interest gives probable evidence also for the Byzan-
tine tradition of an older Lenten season of only three weeks.16
Characteristic of the fifth Saturday is the celebration that took place
in the Marian shrine of Blachernai in thanksgiving for liberation from
the invasion of the Persians and the Avars in 626. On that occasion the
celebrated Akathist hymn was sung.17 The last week of Lent, called
“Palm Week,” is concluded with the Sunday of the same name, intro-
duced by the “Saturday of Lazarus,” a type (tuvpo~) of the resurrection
of Christ and for this reason assigned to the Christian initiation. Char-
acteristic of Palm Sunday was the procession, conducted in an infor-
mal way and therefore without any special blessing of the branches.18

c) Holy Week
The kanwnavrion of the Byzantine cathedral did not know the Western
technical term “Sacred Triduum” or “Easter Triduum” but spoke of a
“holy and great” Monday, Tuesday, etc., until the “holy and great
­Sunday” of the Resurrection. Nevertheless, from the historical facts
we see that the notion of “Triduum” is not altogether foreign to the
older Byzantine tradition, for some lectionaries of the ninth century
relate only the scriptural passages assigned to the celebrations of
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday do
not differ in any way from an ordinary ferial day of Lent except for the
presence of a Gospel passage read during the Liturgy of the Presancti-
fied Gifts and the readings of Terce-Sext and Vespers.19
At sunset on Holy Thursday the vigil Liturgy introduced by Vespers
takes place. This is followed by the washing of the feet with relevant
readings (John 13:1[3]-11 and 12-17), the two Old Testament readings
proper to Vespers of Lent, and the three readings of the Eucharistic
Liturgy, in the course of which, as in the Roman Rite, the patriarch
consecrates the oil of chrism (muvron). The gospel narrates all the hap-
penings of the day by creating a long passage composed of Matthew
26:1-20; John 13:1-17; Matthew 26:21-39; Luke 22:43-44; Matthew

16 
M. E. Johnson, “From Three Weeks to Forty Days: Baptismal Preparation and
the Origins of Lent,” M. E. Johnson, ed., Living Water, Sealing Spirit: Readings on
Christian Initiation (Collegeville, Minn., 1995) 118–136 (already published in SL 20
[1990] 185–200).
17 
Mateos, Typicon, 2:52–55.
18 
Mateos, Typicon, 2:62–67.
19 
Ezekiel at the hora media, Exodus and Job at Vespers (Mateos, Typicon, 2:66–73).

161
26:40–27:2. In this composite there appears the narration, already read,
of the washing of the feet, a sign that in the period prior to the ninth
century the dramatic ritual of the washing had not yet been adopted.20
It originates from Jerusalem, as do the twelve passages of the Passion
read during the vigil following Vespers on Holy Thursday.21
Good Friday does not substantially differ from any other Friday of
Lent, except for the veneration of the relic of the lance and the cate-
chesis that the patriarch held for the candidates for baptism in the
Church of Peace. As on Holy Thursday, a long composite passage (Matt
27:1-38; Luke 23:39-43; Matt 27:39-54; John 19:31-37; Matt 27:55-61) of
the ­Passion that resumes the narration introduced on Thursday is read
during Vespers.22 At the end of the Matins of Saturday, a Liturgy of the
Word, already of Easter intonation (Ezek 37:1-14; 1 Cor 5:6-8; Gal 3:13-
14), presents the recounting of the burial (Matt 27:62-66), which is
­followed by the first shift of the baptized.23
The solemn Easter Vigil is not a nocturnal vigil in the Byzantine
­tradition but, as on Holy Thursday, a partial vigil that begins at sunset
with Vespers, identical in the psalmody to any other Saturday of the
year. A celebration of the Word follows with seven or more readings
from the Old Testament, while in the baptistry the patriarch confers
the Christian initiation on the candidates for baptism. At the end of
this he solemnly enters the cathedral with the neophytes in white gar-
ments to preside at the Eucharistic vigil Liturgy.24 The Matins, Liturgy,
and Vespers of Easter do not differ in structure from their more com-
mon Sunday version during the year. So it can be said that on the cele-
brational plane Sunday was truly presented as a weekly Easter.25

d) The paschal Pentecost

Characteristic of the Pentecostal period is the daily celebration of the
Eucharistic Liturgy with a semi-continuous reading of the Acts of the
Apostles and the Gospel of John. The first week, a true and proper
“octave”—the only one noted in the kanwnavrion of Constantinople—is
20 
Mateos, Typicon, 2:72–77.
21 
Mateos, Typicon, 2:76–79; S. Janeras, Le Vendredi-saint dans la tradition liturgique
byzantine: Structure et histoire de ses offices, AL 13 = SA 99 (Rome, 1988) 109–113.
22 
Mateos, Typicon, 2:78–83; Janeras, Vendredi-saint, 290–291, 307–315, 374–379.
23 
Mateos, Typicon, 2:82–85.
24 
Mateos, Typicon, 2:84–91; G. Bertoniere, The Historical Development of the Easter
Vigil and Related Services in the Greek Church, OCA 193 (Rome, 1972) 113–139.
25 
Mateos, Typicon, 2:92–97; Bertoniere, Easter Vigil, 140–153.

162
called “of the renewal” (th§~ diakainhsivmou)26 and entails the stational
celebration in the shrines dedicated to the apostles, to the Mother of
God, to St. Stephen and St. John the Evangelist and his brother James,
to SS. Peter and Paul, and to St. John the Baptist. The second Sunday
of Easter that concludes the “octave” ( Antivj pasca) is dedicated, as in
all Christian traditions, to the memory of the appearance to Thomas.27
The third Sunday commemorates the faithful Joseph of Arimathea,
Mary Magdalen, and the other disciples of the Lord, who from the
sadness of Holy Saturday are in this way linked to the joy of the resur-
rection. The Gospel passage (Mark 15:43–16:8) sets forth again the
scene of the deposition from the cross to the empty tomb, that is to say,
the entire paschal mystery. The following three Sundays present
­instead the episodes of the paralytic (John 5:1-15), of the Samaritan
(John 4:5-42), and of the man born blind (John 9:1-38), traditionally
used for the post-baptismal mystagogy.28 Twenty-five days after Easter
we have the exclusively Eastern feast of “Midpentecost,” based on
John 7:14-30,29 and on the fortieth day the solemnity of the Ascension.30
The seventh Sunday provides instead for the commemoration of the
Fathers of the Council of Nicea, which the subsequent codex of Jeru-
salem extends to the first six councils.31
The eighth Sunday after Easter is the solemnity of Pentecost, with
the vigil after Vespers and the conferring of baptism right after Matins.
The narrative of the descent of the Holy Spirit is left to the epistle
(Acts 2:1-11), and the gospel alludes to “the Spirit, which believers in
[Jesus] were to receive” (John 7:37-53). No mention is made of the
­cathedral at the characteristic rite of the Genuflection (gonuklisiva) that
took place during the second Vespers of Pentecost, when the use of the
prayer while kneeling was taken up again on ferial days, a custom
­forbidden for all of paschal time.32
26 
Theodore the Studite, Letters: PG 99:1700c.
27 
Mateos, Typicon, 2:108–109. The term Antipascha was known to Abbot Leontius
(ninth century), Vita di Gregorio di Agrigento, 15 (PG 98:576A) and 18 (PG 98:580C);
John Damascene, Carmen in dominicam Antipaschatis: PG 96).
28 
Mateos, Typicon, 2:114–171, 118–119, 122–123, 124–125.
29 
H. R. Drobner, “Die Festpredigten der Mesopentecoste in der Alten Kirche,”
Richerche patristiche in onore di Dom Basil Studer, O.S.B., Augustinianum 33 (Rome,
1993) 137–170.
30 
Mateos, Typicon, 2:120–121 and 126–129.
31 
Mateos, Typicon, 2:130–133 and Apparatus.
32 
Mateos, Typicon, 2:136–139.

163
 e) Time after Pentecost
Originally there were two distinct periods: one from the Monday after
Pentecost to the Sunday following the Exaltation of the Cross (Septem-
ber 14) close to the autumnal equinox and the ancient civic New Year,
and a second period that extended from that date until the beginning of
Lent. In the first period the Saturday-Sunday Gospel passages for the
Eucharistic Liturgy were from Matthew and the second from Luke. In
all, the time after Pentecost comprised thirty-four weeks—or even less
depending on the date of Easter—up to the Saturday that precedes the
Sunday of the Prodigal Son.33 The first Sunday after ­Pentecost is the
feast of All the Holy Martyrs. It should be noted that the same seasonal
periods beginning from the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross are also
present in the West Syrian tradition and are a sign of great antiquity.

f) Fixed cycle
The Typikon of the Great Church does not possess a terminology to
­indicate the rank of the feasts. The designation of the level of the feasts
varies in the post-patristic period. John of Euboia (c. 744) considers
some of them “highlighted” (eu[shmoi),34 and before him Pseudo-­
Athanasius (seventh/eighth century) speaks of the feasts of the Lord
(despotikai; eJoriaai;),35 a practice followed by Andrew of Crete († 740)36
and Theodore the Studite.37 Leo Tuscus of Pisa (a. 1173/1174) speaks
instead of magna festivitas,38 and a text published by Cardinal Pitra
­distinguishes between “great, little, and middle” feasts.39
As in the West, the fixed cycle begins with the civic New Year,
which in ancient Byzantium was not on January 1, as for example in
Jerusalem, but on September 1, and was inaugurated with a solemn
propitiatory stational procession.40 The Typikon of the cathedral did not
33 
Mateos, Typicon, 2:141–167.
34 
Sermo in conceptionem s. Deiparae, 10: PG 96:1473C–1476A and 1497B).
35 
PG 28:917B.
36 
Homilia in s. Georgium: PG 97:1172A.
37 
Parvae Catecheseis, 64, ed. G. Cozza Luzi, in Nova Patrum Bibliotheca 10, 1 (Rome,
1905) 52, and Constitutio Monasterii Studii: PG 99:1704D.
38 
A. Jacob, “La traduction de la Liturgie de saint Jean Chrysostome par Leon
­Toscan. Edition critique,” OCP 32 (1966) 156; for the dating: M. Coll I Alentorn,
“Un Català promotor de la traducció de la Litùrgia de sant Joan Crisòstom,”
­Miscellania liturgica catalana (Barcelona, 1978) 49–52.
39 
Spicilegium Solesmense (Paris, 1858) 4:555.
40 
P. Schreiner, “Historisches und Liturgisches zum Byzantinischen Neujahr,”
Rivista di Studi Bizantini e Slavi 2 (1982) 13–23.

164
recognize a rigid system of classification of the feasts into particular
categories, but from the data at our disposal we are at least able to
­determine an order of the principal feasts on the basis of the liturgical
importance accorded to them.
In the first place are the feasts of the Exaltation of the Cross (Sep-
tember 14), Christmas (December 25), and the Theophany (January 6).
These are preceded and followed by a Saturday and a Sunday dedi-
cated to them and with proper passages for the Eucharistic Liturgy,
without, however, the weeks included in them being understood as a
period of preparation or an “octave.” Of these three feasts, only
Christmas and the Theophany had a solemn vigil with Vespers, seven
or more biblical readings, an evening Eucharist and pannuciv~. For the
Exaltation of the Cross a partial vigil of only three readings without
the evening Eucharist was scheduled as it was for the feasts of the sec-
ond type: the Birth of the Theotokos (September 8), the anniversary of
the Dedication of the Churches of Chalkoprateia and Hagia Sophia
(December 18 and 23), the feast of the Annunciation (March 25), the
anniversary of the founding of Constantinople (May 11), the feast of
the Apostles Peter and Paul (June 29), the remembrance of the Fathers
of the Council of Chalcedon (July 16), the Transfiguration (August 6),
and the metavstasi~ of the Mother of God (August 15).41
For a third type of feast the vigil element is restricted to only three
readings of Vespers. These feasts are the Entrance into the Temple of
the Theotokos (November 21), the Apostle Andrew (November 30),
and John the Baptist (June 24). One notices as in Constantinople in the
ninth century that the feast of the Apostle Andrew did not yet have a
particular liturgical relevance, and the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia does
not present him either as a protector or founder of the episcopal see on
the Bosporus.42
Some specific particularities of the Constantinople calendar merit
mention. On different occasions certain memorials are transferred to
the nearest Sunday,43 and on the day following a feast is celebrated
commemorating those figures associated with the transferred
­memorial. So on the day after the Birth of the Theotokos, the feast of
St. Joachim and St. Ann is celebrated (September 9); in like manner,
41 
Mateos, Typicon, 1.
42 
Mateos, Typicon, 1.
43 
For example: October 3, Dionysius the Areopagite; November 14, Justinian and
Theodora.

165
on December 26, the Mother of God; January 7, St. John the Baptist;
­February 3, Simeon; and March 26, the Archangel Gabriel.
A unique and extremely interesting aspect of the liturgical year in
ancient Byzantium is the importance accorded to the commemoration
of natural calamities and events of war, understanding them as a time
for offering thanksgiving to God for their end or for having escaped
danger.44 Generally on such days a processional with a stational
­Liturgy took place, often with the participation of the patriarch or
­emperor.

2. In the Monastic Traditions Between the Ninth and Tenth centuries

It is well known that after the second period of iconoclasm (843) the
cenobites of Studium organized in Constantinople a liturgical system
blending the solemn Liturgy of the Hours of the cathedral with the
more temperate hourly prayer of the monks of Palestine, their land of
origin. The Studites developed the role of liturgical poetry and in par-
ticular the hymn canon. The vast production was then collected into
special anthologies assigned to the same number of days/periods and
liturgical cycles. Thus was born the JOktwvhco~ and the Mhnavia for the
weekly and annual cycle, and the Triwvdion and Penthkostavrion for
Lent and Eastertime.45 We see now the principal differences that the
Studite monastic rite involves in respect to that of the cathedral,
­basing ourselves principally on the tupikav of the monastery of San
­Salvatore of Messina (after 1165) and of Theotokos Evergetis of Con-
stantinople (twelfth century?).46

a) Pre-Lenten time
Pre-Lent comprises not three but four Sundays and begins with that
called “the Sunday of the Pharisee and the Publican,” from the scrip-

44 
For example: October 26, November 6, December 14, January 26, June 5 and 25,
August 7 and 16, etc. See Baldovin, The Urban Character of Christian Worship,
­Appendix, p. 300.
45 
See R. F. Taft, The Byzantine Rite: A Short History (Collegeville, Minn., 1992) 52–66
(with bibliography).
46 
M. Arranz, ed., Le Typicon du monastère du Saint-Sauveur à Messine. Codex Messi-
nensis gr. 115, A.D. 1131, OCA 185 (Rome, 1969) and A.Dmitr, 1:256–610. On the
dating discussed, of both the sources, see respectively M. Re, Il copista, la datazione e
la genesi del Messan. Gr. 115 (Typicon di Messina) Bollettino della Badia Greca di
Grottaferrata, n.s. 44 (1990) 145–156, and P. Gautier, “Le Typikon de la Théotokos
Evergétis,” REB 40 (1982) 12–13.

166
tural passage of the day (Luke 18:10-14), which the hymn canon of
Matins, composed by the Studite abbot George (eleventh century),
­exalts as a model of humility. Meatfare Saturday is dedicated to the
commemoration of the deceased “fathers and brothers” (i.e., monks),
and the memorial of “our holy ascetic fathers” is celebrated on
Cheesefare Saturday. The monastic mark taken from the liturgical year
is evident.47

b) Lent
For the first Saturday the Studite revision of the liturgical year retains
the memorial of St. Theodore, which in its origin was tied to a particu­
lar stational church and was not celebrated in the cathedral. The
­following Sunday, the first of Lent, begins to be called “Sunday of
­Orthodoxy,” a yearly commemoration of the reestablishment of the
veneration of the icons.48 The third Sunday is dedicated to the venera-
tion of the cross, which in the cathedral ritual took place during the
fourth week. Recently it has been suggested that this veneration
would have referred to the return to Jerusalem of the relic of the Cross
by Heraclius, which occurred in the first days of March in 630 during
the fourth week of Lent.49
The second, fourth, and fifth Sundays do not involve special com-
memorations, but an examination of the hymnody assigned to them
reveals a situation truly unique. While on the pre-Lenten Sundays the
hymn canon of Matins comments lyrically on the Gospel passage of
the day, on these three Sundays of Lent the hymn canons refer to
­Gospel excerpts different from those read during the Eucharistic
­Liturgy. To be precise, the theme of the hymnody for the second Sun-
day is the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32); for the fourth
Sunday, the parable of the Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37); and for the fifth
Sunday, the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31),
while the respective gospels are Mark 2:1-12 for the second Sunday,
Mark 9:17-31 for the fourth Sunday, and Mark 10:32-45 for the fifth
Sunday. The thematic splitting finds an explanation from the fact that
on these Sundays the hymnody canon comments on the Gospel
­passages assigned them in the lectionary of Jerusalem. Thus a sort of

47 
Arranz, Le Typicon du Saint-Sauveur; A.Dmitr, 1:499–512.
48 
J. Gouillard, Le Synodikon de l’Orthodoxie: Edition et commentaire, Travaux e
memoires 2 (Paris, 1967).
49 
Janeras, Vendredi-saint, 298–299.

167
simultaneous bi-ritualism is set up in which the Eucharist remained
bound to the lectionary of Constantinople, and the Liturgy of the
Hours to themes suggested by the lectionary of Jerusalem.50
Proper to the Thursday of the fifth week is a very long penitential
hymn canon attributed to Andrew of Crete (c. 660–740),51 while the
date assigned to the Akathist hymn varies according to place.52 Lent
concludes with the commemoration of the resurrection of Lazarus on
the sixth Saturday.

c) Holy Week
As in the cathedral, Palm Sunday involves a commemorative procession,
and the first three days of Holy Week completely follow the c­ ommon
Lenten model. On Holy Thursday occurs the ritual of the washing of
the feet, which, according to local traditions, took place ­before or after
the Liturgy or even after supper.53 On Thursday night the twelve pas-
sages of the Passion originating from Jerusalem are read in the course
of Matins. The Hours of Prime, Terce, Sext and None acquire then a
particular importance from the monastic reinterpretation of ceremonies
proper to Jerusalem.54 Vespers of Good Friday lacks the Liturgy of the
Presanctified Gifts as the Easter Vigil loses any tie with Christian ini-
tiation. The accent of the Easter celebration is moved thus to Matins,
sung at the first light of dawn on Sunday. This new way of celebrating
Easter expresses also a different theology of the feast. The remem-
brance perspective is clouded, and the celebration, being in hymnody,
becomes almost an experience of a meeting with the Risen One.55

50 
See S. Janeras, “L’antico ‘Ordo’ agiopolita di Quaresima conservato nelle
preghiere italo-greche del ambone,” EO 5 (1988) 77–87, and G. Bertoniere, The
­Sundays of Lent in the Triodion: The Sundays Without a Commemoration, OCA 253
(Rome, 1997).
51 
Arranz, Le Typicon du Saint-Sauveur, 222–223; A.Dmitr, 1:535–536.
52 
It is set on the fifth Saturday in the Typikon of Evergetis (A.Dmitr, 1:537), on the
Saturday before the Annunciation in the Typikon of Casole (Torino gr. C III 7, a. 1173,
f. 114r), and on March 20 in that of Messina (Arranz, Le Typicon du Saint-Sauveur,
223–224).
53 
Arranz, Le Typicon du Saint-Sauveur, 234–235; A.Dmitr, 1:547–549 (before the
Liturgy); Iena, Universitätsbibliothek, G. B. q. 6a (tupikovn of the Patir of Rossano,
13th cent.) = Grottaferrata G. a. 29, f. 94v-95r (after the Liturgy); Grottaferrata G. a. 1
(Typikòn of the Theotokos of Grottaferrata, a. 1299/1300), 127v–128v (after supper).
54 
Janeras, Vendredi-saint, passim.
55 
Janeras, Vendredi-saint; Bertoniere, Easter Vigil; and more generally, Taft, “In the
Bridegroom’s Absence: The Paschal Triduum in the Byzantine Church,” in La cele-

168
 d) The paschal Pentecost
In comparison with Lent, the Studite organization of the Pentecost
­period remains very close to the cathedral model: there is no splitting
of themes on the Sundays, and the hymnody reflects the Gospel pas-
sages presented by the Byzantine lectionary. Nevertheless, some im-
portant modifications can be noted: (a) the Sunday hymn theme also
dominates the following week, laying the basis for the creation of a
­series of “octaves” of a variable number of days, as if the Sundays
were the same as thematic feasts (St. Thomas, the Ointment-Bearers,
the Samari­tan, etc.);56 (b) the Ascension appears as a feast by now in-
dependent as much from Easter as from Pentecost, given that paschal
time is understood to be concluded at the vigil of the Ascension and
the Sunday of Pentecost acquires an octave.57 Like Meatfare Saturday,
the Saturday preceding Pentecost is tied to the commemoration of
­deceased brethren.

e) Weekly cycle
Beside the proprium hymnody for principal times, the Studites elabo-
rated a ferial service of them structured around a cycle of daily com-
memorations in a weekly rhythm. In practice, each day resulted in
being “dedicated” to one or more saints, rather like that which occurs
today in the Roman Church, in which is preserved the medieval
­memorial, rendered optional however, of Sancta Maria in Sabbato. The
elaboration of the cycle is rightly attributed to the hymnodists Joseph
and Theophane (ninth century), but evidences of them are discernible
in the Palestinian Sinai Book of Hours gr. 863, a manuscript dated to
the ninth century but could go back to a more ancient period. Mondays
and Tuesdays are considered penitential, Wednesdays and Fridays are
dedicated to the Cross, Thursdays to the Mother of God, and Saturdays
to the martyrs.58 The later Syriac Book of Hours alternatively presents

brazione del Triduo Pasquale: Anamnesis e mimesis. Atti del III Congresso Inter­
nazionale di Liturgia, Rome, May 9–13, 1988, AL 14 = SA 102 (Rome, 1990) passim,
and “A Tale of Two Cities: The Byzantine Holy Week Triduum as a Paradigm of
­Liturgical History,” in J. Neil Alexander, ed., Time and Community: In Honor of
Thomas ­Julian Talley (Washington, 1990) passim.
56 
For example, Arranz, Le Typicon du Saint-Sauveur, 258–260; A.Dmitr, 1:568–569.
57 
Arranz, Le Typicon du Saint-Sauveur, 283–284; A.Dmitr, 1:596–600.
58 
Mateos, “Un Horologion de Saint-Sabas: Le codex sinaitique grec 863 (IXe
­siècle),” Mélanges Eugène Tisserant, ST 233 (Vatican City, 1964) 3:49–54.

169
Tuesdays in honor of the Baptist, Thursdays of the apostles, and
­Saturdays honoring the dead as well as the martyrs.59 The manuscript
tradition of the hymn books registers other variants to this series that,
however, in the tenth century appears stabilized, although not in
­details.60 On the other hand, the hypothesis cannot be granted that
the series of daily commemorations springs from the commentary to
the Hexameron of Anastasius the Sinaite (seventh century) because the
work is at least four centuries later than Anastasius.61

f) Fixed cycle
The fixed cycle is less touched by the reform. In practice, the calendar
of Constantinople is maintained with some local memorials and is
pruned by this time of any reference to, and implication of, the sta-
tional Liturgy proper to the cathedral. The principal feasts acquire a
day of preparation (proeovrtion) and a post-feast period (meqevorton) of
three to eight days duration, on the last of which occurs the so-called
“restitution” of the feast (ajpovdosi~). But to say it as English-speaking
people do, the liturgical year is made up not only of “feasts” but also
of “fasts” that in the monastic calendar come to acquire liturgical
­importance, leaving a mark on the structure of the Office of the day.62
­Besides the Lenten fast itself there is a pre-Christmas fast also of forty
days (November 15 to December 24), a movable one in preparation for
the feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul (from the second Monday
after Pentecost to June 28), and a fixed one (August 1 to 14) in prepara-
tion for the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos. Then come the
fasts considered penitential: on August 29 (the martyrdom of John the
Baptist) and on September 14 (the Exaltation of the Cross), even if
the latter falls on a Saturday or a Sunday. The vigils of Christmas and
the Theophany acquire a solemn celebration of the Hours of Prime,

59 
M. Black, A Christian Palestinian Syriac Horologion (Berlin MS.Or. Oct. 1019),
Cambridge, 1954, 85–86 (Ordinary of Vespers) and 103–143 (hymnographic anthol-
ogy).
60 
Ch. Hannick, Le texte de l’Oktoechos, in Dimanche: Office selon les huit tons
jOktwvhxo~, La Prière des Eglises de rite byzantin 3 (Chevetogne, 1972) 39–40 and 54.
61 
This was the hypothesis of A. Grabar, “L’iconographie du dimanche principale-
ment à Byzance,” in AA.VV., Le Dimanche, LO 39 (Paris, 1965) 169–184; however,
see CPG 7770.
62 
The fasts are fixed in Regesta, 985 (a. 1107 ca.); see Les Regestes des actes du
­Patriarcat de Constantinople, fasc. 3: V. Grumel, Les Regestes de 1043 à 1206 (Paris,
1947) 70–72.

170
Terce, Sext, and None in imitation of Good Friday, while between
these two feasts is delineated a special liturgical period of twelve days
(dwdekahvmero~).63
In the Eastern ambience (Sinai and Palestine), where the liturgical
Regulation of the lavra of St. Sabas is the custom, strong discrepancies
with respect to the Studite Regulation are not noted in the calendar of
feasts and commemorations. The tendency is underlined, however, of
applying the most festive setting possible of the “octaves” not only to
the feasts and fixed memorials but also in paschal time. The Sunday of
the Paralytic is extended by three days, and the Office of Midpentecost
is sung for another eight. The ajkolouqiva of the Samaritan is sung on
Sunday and on the following Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, while
on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday that of Midpentecost is sung.
The ajkolouqiva of the man born blind is sung until Tuesday morning,
and on the Saturday after Pentecost all the ajkolouqiva of the feast is
­repeated.64 The singing of the Easter troparion is explicitly given up on
Wednesday morning.65
The numerous post-feasts, octaves, and restitutions in concentric
circles have practically destroyed the unity of the Easter-Pentecost time,
broken by now into so many separate celebrations: Easter, the Sundays,
Ascension, Pentecost. We are now far from the idea of Pentecost as the
unitary feast of fifty days duration of seven weeks (7 x 7 + 1) and the
symbolic season of the new times inaugurated by the paschal victory
of Christ begun in the resurrection and continued in the mysteries of
the ascension, the seating at the right hand of the Father, and the
­descent of the Holy Spirit. This unity, as we have seen, was still well
expressed in the Typikon of the cathedral in the ninth and tenth centu-
ries.

3. From the Fourteenth Century to Our Time

With the progressive dying out of the cathedral tradition after 1204, the
Byzantine liturgical year came to correspond in fact to that expressed
in the Jerusalem Typikon of St. Sabas. Its history, nevertheless, cannot
yet be said to be concluded. In the course of the late Middle Ages the
Sundays of Lent, remaining so to speak “free,” have received many
commemorations of monastic character. The fourth Sunday is linked

63 
For example, in the Apostolos Gerusalemme, S. Saba 266 (11th/12th cent.), f. 132r.
64 
Gerusalemme S. Saba 312 (a. 1201) Typikon, ff. 119r–123r.
65 
Ibid., f. 166r, Sinai gr. 1095 (13th cent.), f. 142v and Sinai gr. 1097 (a. 1214), f. 60r.

171
to the memory of St. John Climacus and the fifth to St. Mary the Egyp-
tian. Meanwhile the feast of Orthodoxy, established on the first Sun-
day to commemorate the restoration of the cult of the icons, was
transformed ever more, at least in the Greek ambience, into a sort of
confessional celebration, becoming de facto the feast of the Orthodox
Church and its faith. In 1368, on the second Sunday, almost as a
­prolongation of the themes of the first, is assigned the memory of
St. ­Gregory Palamas, the strenuous defender of hesychast doctrine
­canonized by his disciple Philotheos Kokkinos. Only the surviving
Byzantine churches of southern Italy and the monasteries called
“Basilian” will continue to follow the more sober Studite liturgical
year. In the monastery of Grottaferrata (Rome) this is the practice even
in our time.66
The Easter Triduum always accents more the dramatic character of
the celebrations, developing in a late period a series of mimetic rites
such as the elevation of the cross from which Christ is unnailed and
placed in the shroud, and a funeral procession with the winding sheet
at the end of Matins of Holy Saturday. This is the ritual of Holy Week
—actually of the entire liturgical year—which without doubt calls back
to the Church the largest number of faithful. But the greatest modifica-
tion to which the ritual of Holy Week has been subjected consists in
the systematic inversion of the Hours for which today the o[rqro~, or
Matins (Vigil–Lauds), is on those days anticipated on the preceding
evening, and all the Little Vesper and post–Little Vesper celebrations,
included in the Easter Vigil, are celebrated in the morning.67
The feasts come to be thus organized: twelve great feasts, of which
nine are of the Lord: Exaltation of the Cross (September 14), Christmas
(December 25), the Theophany (January 6), the Encounter in the
Temple (February 2), the Annunciation (March 25), Palm Sunday, the
Ascension, Pentecost, and the Transfiguration (August 6); and three of
the Theotokos: the Nativity (September 8), Entrance into the Temple
(November 21), and the Dormition (August 15). Easter, inasmuch as it
is the “feast of feasts,” is considered separately. The remaining feasts
and memorials are divided into:
66 
See Nevon Anqolov
j gion plhrevstaton te kai; ajkribevstaton, Rome, 1598 (tradition
of Salento) and Wrolovgion su;n Qew∫§ kata; th;n e[[kpalai tavxin ouj mh;n ajlla; kai; Tupiko;n
tou§ th§~ kruptofevrrh~ monasthrivou, Rome, 1677 (monastic tradition).
67 
A good synthesis can be found in Taft, “In the Bridegroom’s Absence,” and
“A Tale of Two Cities,” passim.

172
 a) ordinary feasts of the first category with nocturnal vigil (ajgrupniva
—where it is the practice), feast psalmody, and Gospel passages in
Matins. Belonging to this category are the feasts of St. John the Evan-
gelist (September 26 and May 8), St. John Chrysostom (November 13),
St. Nicholas (December 6), the Three Magi (January 30), St. George
(April 23), SS. Peter and Paul (June 29), the birth and martyrdom of
St. John the Baptist (June 24 and August 29), and the feast of the title
of the church;
b) ordinary feasts of the second category (feasts of the Mother of
God, of the angels, and of the apostles);
c) minor feasts of the first category (local saints);
d) minor feasts of the second category;
e) days of simple commemorations (Lenten days).
With the correction of the calendar promoted in 1580 by Pope
­Gregory XIII and its increasing adoption in all the countries of Western
Europe, there exists today a difference with respect to the Julian calen-
dar of thirteen days, a difference inexorably destined to increase. In
the course of our century a number of Orthodox Churches have in
turn adopted the Gregorian calendar, limited to the fixed cycle, while
they use the Julian reckoning in order to calculate the date of Easter.
The Julian calendar for the feasts of the fixed cycle is today followed
by the Churches of Russia and Serbia and at Mount Athos as well as
by the Ukrainian Catholic Church. The adoption in Greece of the Gre-
gorian calendar (1924) provoked the schism of the “Old Calendarists.”
Finally, in matters that concern the Eastern Catholic Churches,
­including themes of the liturgical year, we need to take into account a
progressive departure from the common Byzantine calendar by means
of the adoption of the solemnities, feasts, and memorials proper to the
Roman calendar, such as Corpus Christi, the Sacred Heart (called
“Christ the Philanthropist”), and Christ the King.68 Therefore, those
feasts that have actually been adopted celebrate an idea or a devotion
which the Western Roman Church itself holds less liturgical and
which in any case is totally extraneous to the whole of Byzantine spiri­
tuality.69 In the same way, the veto imposed in the past by the Roman

68 
S. Parenti, “Una Diataxis italo-greca inedita del XIV secolo per la solennità del
‘Corpus Domini,’” EphLit 108 (1994) 440–455.
69 
Congregation for the Eastern Churches, Instruction for Applying the Liturgical
Prescriptions of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (Vatican City, 1996).

173
authority to celebrate the memory of St. Gregory Palamas has caused
some Churches to institute in its place a “feast of the holy relics.”70

70 
Liturgicon Missel byzantin a l’usage des fidéles (Beirut, 1960) 93–97.

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